Historical information
After the 1939 bushfires the Forests Commission placed orders for 130,000 feet (nearly 40 km) of 1½ inch canvas hose in Britain to accompany over 200 new pumps of various types.
The Altona workshop became a major centre for fabrication, repair and storage of hose.
But lack of standardisation of hose couplings plagued Australian firefighters for decades
Physical description
Used to repair canvas hose
A rubber patch is placed over the hole in the hose and clamped. It is then heated electrically to melt the rubber patch
Canvas hose needs to be washed, dried, rolled and stored properly after it has been used otherwise it will rot.
Unrolled hose is notorious for becoming tangled.